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Dean Armitage (played by Bradley Whitford), the outwardly affable patriarch of the Armitage family, is a successful neurosurgeon whose charm masks a chilling ruthlessness. He is one of the most sinister characters in the film, and he developed and regularly performs the Coagula procedure, which allows a white individual to inhabit a Black body while the original consciousness of the Black victim remains trapped in a terrifying void. He presents himself as friendly and progressive when he meets Chris, and he puts a lot of effort into appearing welcoming and accepting. His repeated comments about voting for Obama a third time, and about the superiority of Black athletes and celebrities, are overcompensations to prove his acceptance of Chris’s relationship with Rose. His exaggerated politeness contrasts with his true intentions, because he’s trying to put Chris at ease. Rather than seeing them as equals, Dean reduces Black people to their physical characteristics. When he talks about the Black community, he generalizes Black people offensively and repeatedly. His guests and friends all seem to share his views, like the idea that Black bodies are physically stronger and the offensive stereotype that Black men are more aggressive and more sexually virile. Dean, his family, and his friends all see Chris as a resource to be used rather than a person. Dean expresses no remorse when discussing the Coagula procedure or beginning to perform it on Chris; he treats it as an inevitable medical advancement, rather than a violation of human rights. His detachment from the suffering he causes and his remorseless, enthusiastic exploitation of people of color are two of his defining characteristics.  

Dean also uses his expertise in the medical field to attempt to justify the Coagula procedure. He describes the process they perform as a logical solution to a difficult problem—rich white people getting old or injured—rather than a brutal crime. By intellectualizing his racism and spouting his admiration of Black bodies, he’s able to delude himself into thinking that his actions are broadly beneficial. The fact that he doesn’t acknowledge that his crimes are wrong is part of what makes Dean so dangerous. Dean overestimates himself and underestimates Chris. Because he thinks of all Black men as being fundamentally similar, he assumes that hypnosis and physical restraint will keep Chris as compliant as Rose’s prior victims. He sees himself and his family as superior because he cannot recognize the personhood or individuality of the people he harms and exploits. Dean embodies the terrifying reality that the most dangerous forms of racism sometimes come dressed in performative politeness and progressive language, doing profound violence while pretending to be harmless allies.  

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